Attached is a picture of the cowling on the front of my engine, I'm removing it to work on the motor. Do you all run with both the cowling AND the firewall cover? (The upholstered fiberglass part from that faces the passenger compartment) I have both on 2811, just wondering if everyone has the same or is the cowling redundant? What say you? 
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I would say yes. It server 2 purposes. It helps blocking heat and noise. As it is made of metal it also protects from anything trying to fly off the engine that would easily go through fiberglass.
IMHO, the steel hatch cover is mandatory, the upholstered fiberglass panel is optional, but your cabin will be ugly without it 😉
Larry
Thank you both, that's what I needed to hear!
...I Absolutely Agree! You must keep the Metal Cover in Place, this is part of the 'Firewall'! There has been More than One Incident of the 'Stock' Alternator EXTERNAL Fan/Pulley, Blowing-Up, under High Revs!! The Metal Cover was heavily Dented. Protected Driver!!
To Hold that Cover in Place, I recommend using 'Allen Button-Head' Stainless 'Machine Screws', WITH a 'Flang' built-in. 'Button-Head Flang Screws' (find them on Ebay). These Make it Very Convenient in Removing-Installing these Screws using a 'T' Handle Allen Wrench! Because when installing...you can 'Hang' the screw off the end of the Wrench, slide it in and Rotate Tool, much easier to line-up with Threads in the Nut. The Flang replaces the need for a Washer, that can and will, accidentally drop and be lost in the Abbiss of chassis holes!! Don't use Washers?? It's best to do so, because the Mounting holes are much Larger than the Screw.
...I found that 10-32 NF Machine Screws, can replace the Metric Screws, and work with the 'Captured' Nuts, Perfectly.
With the Factory, Tiny Machine screws with a 'Hex-Head' (No Washer)...I Never liked Reaching-In with a Tiny Socket on a small Ratchet handle or even a Nut-Driver, again No Washer. Some parts would Allways Drop-Off, and could be Lost, Forever!! Be Mindful of the Chassis Holes, Once the Fiber-Glass Cover is Removed. Be reminded, Stainless Steel Screws can NOT be retrieved with a Magnet! You would have to Use a Extended Flex 'Grabber Tool', Inspection Mirror, and a Light Source.
I highly recommend changing over to the 100 AMP Alternator, with the Internal Cooling Fan, and Internal Voltage Regulator. Protected FAN and Get rid of the External 'Junk' Voltage Regulator! IMO
MJ
And, as an aside, there are 2 different cover sizes. Earlier cars had a narrower opening.
Its called the 'engine access cover' and without it, the average driver's elbow comes perilously close to the fan pulley during gear shifts. Hex-bolts or allens- makes zero difference if you bump them when the engine's running. I chamfered the pulley holes and use flat-head allens with blue Lock-tite for 3/16" more clearance to the cover.
Excellent information! Thank you all!!
FYI Brian, you have a 140 amp Powermaster alternator with internal regulator, so no need to "upgrade" to the 100 amp unit 
Thanks Dave!! Good to know...
No MJ, I got that part...thanks!
My car was missing the sheet metal cover when I bought it. No one ever mentioned that it was supposed to be there until a year or so ago?
I have the car for 35 years. My elbow is still intact.
@marlinjack posted:...NO BrianH...I was referring to the statement 'Quoted' from the posting of @dave2811, Just to be Clear. And panteradoug...I'am Glad Your Elbow survived!
All the best.
MJ
ME too! 
A little bit off topic but..... I saw a post, not too long ago, that talked about a modification to be made to the polyester covering to make the central part removable without removing the whole thing. Unfortunately I didn't note the references of this post and I don't really know what keyword to use, I tried with "rear hatch" but I didn't find anything.
Thanks for the help
Rene, here's a link.
Wrong link. Comes right back to your post.
🤷♂️🤷♂️
Re: removing the upholstered engine bulge; there have been a number of articles in the POCA Newsletter on performing this Gr-3 mod. As most know, the rear upholstery panel is a lightly padded leatherette cover over a sheet of fiberglas, and on some cars, it's difficult to remove it from behind the seats, to access the steel engine 'door' and then the engine. But if you break a vee belt or need to fix an A/C compressor or water pump leak, that's what you (or someone) must do.
To make the bulge removable, it is separately upholstered from the rest of the panel. On the backside of the big panel are two rows- one on each side- of tiny metric nuts, usually rusty and/or frozen. They are on studs welded to two narrow steel strips that hold down the upholstered edges of the bulge. You won't be re-using them so don't agonize over breaking one or two in removal.
By pulling back an inch of leatherette around the edges of the bulge, it exposes the underlying fiberglas. SAW the fiberglas bulge free on three sides so the bulge comes off intact with its separate leatherette upholstery still attached. A fine-tooth wood saw works well; cut straight! Tuck & trim the bulge's leatherette around the now-exposed edges and use glue on them instead of the steel nut-strips. A black Sharpie colors the exposed cuts on the big fiberglas piece. They will be more-or-less invisible or you can glue narrow extra strips of leatherette.
Screw the big panel back on the firewall, and use small pieces of Velcro on the backside of the now- separated bulge and the steel door, to hold it in place. You now have the factory Gr-3 street-racer-mod and no longer have to pull the big upholstered panel for access to the engine. It looks stock. As an added benefit, when you return the large fiberglas piece to the car, you can stuff chunks of 2" thick-fiberglas building insulation under it, trimmed to size, without having to glue it down since the upholstery no longer ever needs removal. This quiets engine noise better than stock, at very low cost.
There are "kits" available that eliminate the hump and make the firewall flat. Kirk Evans for one.
IF you combine installing that kit with installing the Tesla electric parking brake, you can also eliminate the original parking brake handle and mounting bracket.
That will allow you to push the passenger seat all the way back and allow a non-surgically altered human to occupy it.
Why this was never dealt with properly to begin with is an unknown? Might have been simply budgetary? I would have expected that Ford would have insisted on a fix and am surprised that they even approved this terrible design to begin with?
You can't entirely eliminate all projections into the cabin. That would have required a special water pump and that Ford would have never approved so maybe that is the answer?
Whoever the Ford Engineer was on location in Italy made some strange decisions to begin with? For one thing, he didn't want to have brakes that were too good? I suppose that in his own twisted way, he thought that would increase the likeliness of rear end collisions because "regular" cars wouldn't be able to stop in time like a Pantera could and would increase legal liabilities?
Inhaled hallucinogens at the time certainly created unpredictable decisions for sure? They must have still been on the paranoia effect and it hadn't increased creatibility yet?
The original seat configuration also restricted the number of possible right-hand-drive car owners in England, Australia and Japan that could even fit in the machines. Removing the bulge would fix that li'l problem- if its not too late for most.
Thank you very much, that's exactly what I needed.
I remembered well what to disassemble and cut, my problem was how to hold the bulge? The Velcro, obviously it was enough to think about it.
Thanks again
